VoipVoice Headquaters by LDA.iMdA architetti associati

The VoipVoice project, born in the Empoli manufacturing region of the Florentine countryside, is part of a research program which aims to reactivate industrial areas that saw in 2008 an hole in the construction process due to the building industry crisis.

Architect: LDA.iMdA architetti associati
Client: VoipVoice srl
Location: via del Lavoro, 8  - 50056 Montelupo Fiorentino, Italy
Year: 2018
Photography: MEDULLA studio

From the architect: The VoipVoice project introduces a significative element, innovative and compatible with the state of the places where the new activity is inserted.

The most relevant project points:
1_ to break the boundary between private and public space by opening the front area of the building to create a new connection with the "city"

2_ the use of an expanded metal on the facade filter without hiding the organization marketing and research work of the company

3_ to recall metaphorically the digital network on which is focused the VoipVoice's business and the contemporary societye, by using the same material on the façade;

4_ to create views over the surrounding hills and landscape;

5_ to research innovation as innovative are the VoipVoice's activities: marketing, communication, and network services.

6_to create a perfect link between light, materials and shadows so that it can produce above all, in the people who use the workspace, positive feelings, wonder and amazement.

The essence of VoipVoice project is the connection of inside and outside and the relationship of earth and sky. So, as the earth fades into sky, material and colors change between ground floor and first floor.

The new facade role is an oxymoron, a combination of incongruous terms, it should means: to open closing. The expanded metal facade creates, on an urban scale, the perception of a solid and precious building with a strong impact, in our opinion, in this manufacturing area. The materials and the facade appearance play a relevant role; the choice of a layer of anodized aluminium mesh used as a wrapped skin on the vertical surface, gives different light reflections and hides the offices' windows. The result is an elegant, light and gray succession of surfaces, without any interruption or contamination by other elements: a semi-transparent dress for the  body of the building. 

The skin’s surface is sensitive to light both in the reflection and  filtration phase and create a self–cooling wall to the incident solar radiation. At night the VoipVoice headquarters shows life from the inside with the artificial lights through the hidden openings, giving more lightness to the massive building.

> New Gucci Headquaters in Milan by Piuarch
> Eurojust headquaters by Mecanoo